


It's Only A Matter of Time

by odinstark



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Merlin (TV), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Bisexual Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Caring Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Crack Treated Seriously, Dork Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Dragons, Erik is a Sweetheart, Established Relationship, Eventual Relationships, M/M, Magic, Multi, Pansexual Character, Post X-Men: First Class, Rebirth, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Trans Merlin (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 04:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19143529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odinstark/pseuds/odinstark
Summary: //set post xmen: first class. erik doesn't leave with raven and the others but charles is still paralysed through other means. they set up the academy together. but timeline skewed in where its 2014. erik is still a ww2 victim. don't question it, I don't know how to fix this. time travel??? never heard of her. also, the cia don't know about the academy but fury sure as hell does."I lived and died a hundred times waiting for the chance that you would to return to me, Arthur. And I would do it a hundred more, if it meant I would get five minutes with you."





	1. Discovery

Walking the earth for hundred of years, aging, greying, suffering the pains of centuries of old age was insufferable, that's why it never happened.

Everytime he died, he was reborn with his mind, his magic, his knowledge, his skill. His memories. He continued the legacy of Arthur Pendragon far after the name became nothing more than a legend, the main character of a children's tale.

He lived a thousands lives, all around the world. And throughout those lonely, ever so lonely years, he clung to any man, woman or creature that vaguely even resembled his dear Arthur, in the hopes that maybe he was reincarnated with him.

And everytime, it never was so.

The longer Merlin went on his cycle, the birth, the life and the death, the harder it was to cling to his memories. At first, it was a few weeks before he remembered his old life, then it was months. Then the months turned to years and suddenly, he was twenty two and had no recollection of his former self. All because he wouldn't let his soul rest.

He had to live, he had to continue, until the day Arthur came back. And he would. He just had to wait a little longer. And so he did.

Then it was 2014, and Merlin Anagénnisi, born to Leia and Luther Anagénnisi, Greek immigrants who moved to America in the early nineties, and died soon after his birth, was a twenty and something year old, working in a book store with no remembrance of his former lives, but he held every shred of his magic.

The golden glint in his eye, the only tell of his power, flickered out when he heard the bell on the store front jingled and the books he was currently stacking using his mind fell to the counter in the store room. He turned around and headed outside to help with the last customers of the day, as it was nearing 6pm on a Saturday evening, his last shift of the week.

He saw two men, one in a wheelchair and another stood beside him in a leather jacket, holding a book from the recently ordered in a section, one about chess if his eyes saw correctly, and he was showing it to his companion, an inside joke, clearly, as the other gave a mirthful laugh.

Merlin footsteps seemed to louden as he drew closer, his best customer service smile possible plastered on his face, which had the two friends look up.

"Hello, gentlemen. How may I be of service to you?" snark bit at his words so much so he felt as though he had to swallow to keep it at bay.

The two shared a long drawn out look then the one holding the book spoke calmly, "It's more of a what can we do for you," before throwing the object he held in his hands directly at Merlin's head.

His eyes flashed gold instinctively and the book froze in midair, suspended in motion. With a quick glance to the table the book came from and subsequently returned too, he returned his gaze to the pair who were again locked in a silent conversation through their eyes.

Or so he thought. It wouldn't take long for Merlin to realise the powers these two held.

"I'm not really sure throwing a book at my face is in benefit to me," the warlock, oblivious to his being so, remarked, diffusing the tension that only he seemed to feel in the air.

Like a thick blanket, choking the moisture out of the air.

_Merlin._

The dark haired man flinched at the sudden address, which sounded like it came from the inside of his very own skull. 

 _Do not be alarmed. You are not going mad. My name is Charles._   _I am a telepath. We are like you._

Merlin looked to the man in the wheelchair, Charles, who gave him a soft smile. Then to the slightly gruffer man, who gave him a head tilt of recognition and reassurance.

 _That is my friend Erik. Come with us, we have much to discuss._  

He cracked a wide grin at the duo, genuine joy lighting up his eyes and features,

"That we do."


	2. Coffee?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tea and discussions

 

"Make yourselves at home. Would you like anything to drink? " Merlin asked as the three slipped through the entrance to his shabby apartment.

It had been a little bit of trouble to try and get Charles up the rickity and narrow stairs to his home, as his building was far too old and cheap to have an elevator installed. He wasn't even sure that smoke detection was installed, he was just lucky his stove couldn't get warm enough to produce a flame.

"Coffee, please," Erik answered as he sat down on blue, moth eaten couch that doubled as Merlin's bed, the flat's dedicated bedroom not being fit for human purpose with its sheer amount of building ailments. At least it was somewhat comfortable, the couch that is.

"Tea with milk and sugar if you have it, thank you, Merlin," Charles replied as he glanced around the main room, to walls stocked high with books, books and more books. With a look to the coffee table which held, unsurprisingly, more books, the brunette found that the dull, scratched table top was held up with hard back novels as legs.

Merlin nodded at their requests and set about making it. He saw in the reflection of the mirror he had hung in the kitchen, for lack of space on the living room walls, that his guests were observing his downtrodden living quarters and felt almost a little bit embarrassed by it. 

"Sorry for the mess, I've never had to worry about guests before."

The implications of that statement weren't lost on either Erik nor Charles, who supplied an answer, "I don't mind. I have a friend who's room would make your's look like a show room."

With his nerves calmed, he continued his small task till it was completed. Before he could decide on what to bring over to the table first, the shiny teapot steadily rose into the air and made its way over to the duo, never loosing a drop through the pot's cracked metal lid.

Merlin face broken into an enormous grin and used his own power to make the rest of the objects float their way over to the table, not any less gracefully than the tea pot, if he may add.

"Brilliant!" he remarked, drawing the attention of the two friends, as he sat down in the dark navy arm chair that faced the two, instinctively tucking his legs under himself,

"I was beginning to wonder what your trick was. Now I find it's mine."

Erik gave a small, genuine smile and an incline of his head to the dark haired man, who looked far younger now than he had back at the bookshop, the almost childish grin smooth out his rough edges, made the sad eyes look joyful, 

"Almost. My talents only extend to metal, but it seems your's seems to apply to anything, hmm?"

"Yes, that doesn't mean I'm any less impressed with what you can do," Merlin added as he watched the tea pour into the mugs, the spoons mixing in the milk and sugar that Charles added.

Merlin grabbed his newly made cup and took a long draft from it, before looking up at the two, who watched him in comfortable silence, letting the steam wash over his pale features. He nodded to Charles after a moment more, clearly ready to start the conversation rather than put it off with a few more minutes of jokes.

"I guess I should start with why we're here then," the brunette started and when he received a nod of 'Yes', he continued,

"You obviously know that you're different. That the powers you have, they're not something anyone else does. We wish for you to join us and learn how to use them, not to conceal but to reap the benefits of them also."

Merlin blinked and let the words sink in before asking a question of his own,

"How did you find me? I'm not on some sort of CIA watch list for dangerous inhumans or something am I?" he tried to laugh it off but he knew there was every possibility it wasn't far from the truth.

"Not if we haven't anything to with it," Erik answered, a little put off that the first thought the younger man had in regards to his powers was that he was in trouble for having them.

Charles leaned forward in his wheelchair, his hands crossed in his lap, holding his steaming mug,

"A man like us named Dr Hank McCoy developed technology to help us find other inhumans to help us with a situation that we had a number of months ago. And now that threat is gone, we've decided to offer our services and help to others. Ask them to join our, well, academy for lack of a better word."

"Charles here is a real and proper Professor, if only Oxford could see you now, my friend," Erik jested, before taking a swig of his coffes as Charles scoffed but not unkindly. 

Merlin smiled at the interaction and was only a little jealous of the friendship the two shared, only again a little bitter he didn't have something like that.

"And you're asking me to join?" he asked after a moment of contemplation, putting his nearly empty mug back on the table, only for the pot to come to life again and refill it.

"If you'd wish, we are more than happy to have you, otherwise we wouldn't have come," the professor answered with a mischievous look in his eye.

"Is it...live in?" Merlin questioned hesitantly, with a not subtle enough gaze to his crampt and discoloured home.

Erik and Charles shared a pleased look before the former said sarcasticly,

"I'm sure we could spare a room or two."

Merlin ran a hand through his windswept hair and pursed his lips in mock thought then,

"I'm in."

The discussions lasted far into the evening, more tea was brewed, another inside joke the dark haired man didn't understand, and food was ordered, on the tab of Charles of course and the two wouldn't hear of his promises to repay them. And finally, at ten pm the duo left, with promises to return in a few days time to help move his personal artefacts to upstate New York. 

Merlin cleaned up the livingroom in record time, showering quickly under the apartment's freezing shower before tucking himself tightly under the couch bed's cover with his most recent book securely grasped in his hands.

He fell asleep reading the novel to the glowing city lights outside of his living room window, and when the book his the floor, the cover was revealed under the soft yellow light pulsing through the window. 

_THE LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy domesticity


	3. Long Travels

_"What do you mean, you're quitting?"_

  
"I resign. I've been offered a, uh, scholarship of sorts," Merlin remarked as his soon to be ex boss gaped at him, his face turning redder by the second in frustration.

"You? A scholarship? Don't make me laugh. You're just a lazy, entitled millennial like the rest of your lot, don't want to do some good old fashioned hard work and you quit good jobs and expect them to be there when you want them!"

Merlin scoffed and tightened his grip on the strap of his shoulder bag, only a few feet from the store's front door, the 'open!' not yet flipped.

"This job payed me barely enough to keep my shitty apartment on the otherside of town. I haven't had three meals a day since I was sixteen years old. I haven't taken one day off work since I started this job three years ago, not even when I nearly died from the flu. I don't think I'm entitled, "

Merlin grabbed the book he had been eyeing for weeks now, a huge, fat volume with hundreds of pages and covered in dark green leather with gold lettering, off of its shelf and slid it into his bag.

As the man spluttered various words, most of them various synonyms of 'thief'!', Merlin held a hand up to silence him, his eyes unknowingly flashing a soft gold, 

"Take it out of my paycheck for the week. That's what I came to get but honestly, you're not worth my time."

And with that, the dark haired man marched out of the shabby store and onto the sunny Brooklyn street, narrowly missing a collision with a blonde and brunette couple walking down the street. 

He offered the two men a quiet apology before he began the walk back to his apartment to wait for transport to the academy. Merlin hadn't got very far down the sidewalk before a sleak, black, low-rise car rolled up beside him.

He glanced inside the interior of the car to see Charles in the passenger seat with an unknown woman at the wheel. Merlin's face lit up when his new found friend waved and gestured towards the backseat of the car, 

"Need a ride, stranger?"

He learned that the woman's name was Moira, ex-federal agent turned tutor for the academy. She was obviously very skilled but she was also extremely funny so Merlin took a quick liking to her on their ride to his apartment. 

Merlin did not have a lot of clothes, nor many sentimental items, but he did have a library. A large one. So they took as many boxes as they could fit in the car's medium sized boot alongside Charles' collapsible wheelchair and left the rest for donation. There's a lot in both piles.

Even if Charles hasn't assured him that there was furniture and bedding at the school he could use, Merlin wouldn't have thought to bring his with him. They were old and musty and stained, definitely not in the same aesthetic the academy was styled in from the pictures Charles had sent him the other day.

But he did send his armchair, he wouldn't leave that behind. It was too comfy.

It took a few hours to reach the school, for the New York traffic was horrible. At one point, Merlin fell asleep, lulled into a deep rest by the rumbling of the car, conversation and the soft music Charles put on. 

"What do you think, Merlin?" Charles questioned with no answer, "Merlin?" 

Moira glanced up at the rear view mirror and smiled, 

"He's asleep, Charles."

The brunette man turned in his chair and let his eyes light up at the sight of the man at peace. His face looked years younger and he looked marginally happier, all the creases ironed out and the harsh circles under his eyes didn't seem so. Charles grabbed his jacket from his lap and spread it around Merlin's shoulder. Best to let him rest for a while. He deserved it. 

He awoke when the terrain under the car turned from the smooth, black tarmac to rumble-y, bumpy dirt roads. He caught Charles' eye in the wing mirror and offered a weak smile.

"Good evening, sleepyhead. Rest well?"

Merlin looked down at the jacket currently covering his chest and blushed at the act of rare affection towards him,

"The best I've had in a while."

"I'm glad my car was comfortable enough and my voice boring enough to lure you to sleep," Moira teased as the trees whipped past the car as they trundled up the country lane towards the mansion in the near distance.

"Hmm well I'm not sure how much of it was the car," Merlin smirked when she rolled her eyes and Charles barked out a laugh. This was the most comfortable Merlin had been around people in a long time.

When the slick car finally arrived, Merlin had to hold back a sigh of appreciation. Of disbelief. From the mansion, to the grounds, to the surroundings fields, he had never seen something so big, so clean. So much like a home.

Moira got Charles settled into his chair before she drifted towards Merlin, nodding her head at the towering house in front of them.

"What do you think? Impressive right?"

Merlin crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head in mock thought, but in that moment, the sarcastic remark got caught in the back of his throat, leaving way for the real truth,

"Pictures just don't do it justice."

**Author's Note:**

> damn yeah ok this is happening I guess


End file.
